DanHunt's Sunday June 24th, 2012

Okay, first of all, I misinformed my constituency about the presence of a Gracie at Gordo's academy. I was given this information in error and passed on the fallacy as fact. Although there are Gracies that come through Gordo's gym from time to time, after researching, I discovered that Rafael Gracie is actually named Rafael Something-else. His nickname is "Magreza", which, according to the Larousse Portuguese Dictionary, means "thinness" or "slim build"... And when pronounced as a native Brazilian, sounds remarkably similar to "Gracie". This must have been the misunderstanding that was made by my fellow Connection Rio housemate when the tale of Rafael Gracie was related to me, therefor, I am posting this correction.

So, with that disclaimer out of the way, I'd like to report that progress is definitely being made on my jiu jitsu skills while I've been down here. On Friday, Magreza told me (with the help of a purple-belt translator...belted in jiu jitsu, not in translation) that he has been working on his half guard passing since I got to Rio just to deal with my half guard. Needless to say, I was extremely flattered, being that a Gordo Jiu Jitsu purple belt respected my half guard game enough to refocus his own training on my account.

That, I would have to say, is one of my favorite moments of my trip. Now, to be transparent about this anecdote, I did manage to sweep Magreza twice with my half guard, but I found myself on the receiving end of a slick triangle set up shortly after the first sweep, to which I tapped. I'd like to inform you, I did learn my lesson, and avoided a similar setup by a black belt the next day, but I thought it only fair to give credit where credit is due.

Now, without further ado, on to the title-topics!

1. DRILLING:
I have been getting stuck in a certain spot in my deep half guard game while trying to hit a waiter sweep. When my opponent feels this sweep coming, he'll oftentimes shift his weight forward and post his hands on the mat in front of him (Don't worry if you can't follow this so far... There's a layperson's version coming up), preventing the sweep. I have seen several transitions to back control, but always felt uncomfortable with my opponent's weight distribution when attempting this... SO, I decided to talk Beto into helping me troubleshoot. The beauty of my knowledge of deep half guard is that it is very extensive up to the exact spot that I always get destroyed. It's a lot like playing Mike Tyson's Punch Out for Nintendo. I can just about guarantee to get up to a certain point in the game, followed by a guarantee that I will get stopped in my tracks upon arrival (Believe it or not, I never beat the guy with the band-aids over his belly button. I'm not a very astute video-gamer).

I came up with a transition to x-guard that I hadn't yet seen (maybe I invented it?!?!) on the far-side leg that I repped about twenty times before the 6 o'clock class was beckoning a demonstration of my new skills.

Wouldn't you know it, deep half to failed waiter sweep to x guard to SWEEP on one of the gym's better brown belts!

Layperson's version: I suck so I practiced a move that would allow me to suck much less if I ever found myself in a certain position... And it worked!

Troubleshooting 101: identify a problem, identify and practice a solution, and try not to fart when drilling moves with a partner. They'll kindly suggest that, "maybe we've done enough drilling for the day".

2. NOGUEIRA:
Catching a bus from Barrinha to Recreio seems simple enough: stand near the passarella in Barra and hop on any bus with "Recreio" flashing on the marquis in the window. It wasn't too tough to catch, but it turns out that guessing the timing on a 30 block trip in rush hour traffic in Rio is as futile as guessing the number of bites it'll take to finish a bowl of Grape Nuts... You will ALWAYS guess too low.

I'll spare you the details on the commute, but let's just say we were grateful for the lax attitude that most Brazilians seem to have toward punctuality.

Class was being taught by a 7th degree black belt by the name of (???? Help me out if you think you may know who that might be). We jumped in, and being that there was limited mat space, Rogerio Nogueira (Lil Nog... As opposed to Rodrigo, who is Big Nog) opened up another segment of mats that was partitioned off by a cage wall. He ushered us through the cage door and onto the mats, where he began demonstrating an omoplata (type of shoulder lock) set up on one of his black belts.

Rogerio is an extremely welcoming person, and on three different occasions thanked us for visiting him in his gym. The techniques he taught were simple and complex at the same time. Simple enough to b.s. your way though them if an opportunity arose, yet beautifully complex enough that if adhering to all of the details, the moves would practically apply themselves. He was extremely understanding of the leverage principals being applied in his maneuvers and was conscious of the fact that it benefits his students to understand just as completely as he does. I find it very beneficial when an instructor teaches concepts through specifics, so when in live sparring the specifics vary, the concepts can spawn improvisational modification to the application of the techniques. Following me so far? Good!

Anyway, this post is getting long winded. Let me start to breeze through a few summaries so I can take a nap before drilling and class this afternoon.

I was complimented on my Portuguese by the desk manager at Nogueira's gym! I've been using Portuguese (and accidental Spanish on occasion) exclusively when communicating. I have noticed that English tips them off to the idea that I'm American, and since I'm still undecided about how they are receiving that knowledge, I'm trying to blend in. I was asking permission to purchase a Team Nogueira shirt that didn't seem to be on display with the rest of the apparel, and upon explaining that I would like to buy two, I was told, "Ah! Fala bem Português." I said, "Obrigado" ("Thank you"), and slipped away before she could expose the fact that I had reached the end of my Portuguese capabilities in our 30 second conversation, and retract the compliment.

3. GORDINHO
He was in the gym on Saturday. He wrecked me. What a great opportunity it is to roll with so many amazing jiu jitsu fighters (some of whom are world champions)! I counted on Saturday, by the way, specifically for the purposes of this blog... There were 11 black belts on the mats. It wasn't a holiday, or a celebration, or a competition training camp. It was just Saturday. That's how Saturday's are here at Gordo's.

4. UFC
Friday: Clay Guida... Seriously? I'm not a huge fan of Greg Jackson, but I can't imagine he envisioned the game plan for Guida to look like that.

Saturday: Lots of good jiu jitsu on that card, and it felt good to watch Rich Franklin win again. I just wish he would stop running straight back when he gets into trouble, especially against a guy who loves to barrel straight forward.

5. IPANEMA
We went to Ipanema to check out the beaches there and go to a swap. There was a footballer (soccer player) who was juggling magnificently to the delight of all of the onlookers. I suggested to him that I didn't like any sport where you don't use your hands, just as he stood up to yell, "IN THE FACE!", and proceeded to tell me about how halftime is his favorite part of the game.

For those of you that haven't been to a swap, let me explain. It's a block (or multiple blocks) of kiosks that sell just about anything you can imagine. Need a gun rack? No problem. Don't even own a gun, let alone many guns, that would necessitate an entire rack? They don't discriminate.

The problem with the swap in Ipanema is the tourism. I've had the luxury of hearing nothing but Portuguese around town, with the exception of my own annoying voice when explaining to Adam and Beto that laying on the beach for four hours makes me feel restless. Ipanema is swarming with English speaking tourists (especially Americans) who don't have much of an aura of subtlety about them. Now, I know what you're thinking, "Dan, you're American". Correct as this may be, it rubs me the wrong way when other Americans perpetuate the stereotype that we have no social tact or cultural finesse. I suppose the benefit of living as a white guy in El Paso is that the coarseness of my American audacity has been filed down a bit.

Portuguese phrase of the day:
"Desculpe. Eu não falo bem Português."

Translation: "I'm an idiot. Thank you for not farting in my açai."

Valeu,
-Dan